Rutgers Student Convicted In Spying Case Linked To Roommate's Suicide

Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student "accused of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's love life has been convicted of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when the victim of the snooping committed suicide" in September, 2010, The Associated Press writes.

The 20-year-old "could face 10 years in prison when he's sentenced," the AP adds.

"The case revolved around a series of tweets, texts and instant messages in which Dharun Ravi showed friends a webcam live stream of his roommate having an intimate encounter with another man. Two days later, he dared his Twitter followers to video chat him again to see a second liaison between Tyler Clementi and his date. Clementi saw the tweets, and the next day, committed suicide."

"Ravi was not charged with causing Clementi's death, and the suicide remained largely in the background at the trial, though some witnesses mentioned it and the jury was told Clementi had taken his life. Prosecutors were not allowed to argue directly that the spying led to his death; defense lawyers were barred from saying there were other reasons he killed himself."

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.